“I’ll see you later,” he said, shoving those thoughts aside as he quickly made his way to the parking lot.
If he drove now, it would take him just twenty minutes to make it to the restaurant. He’d have to show in his uniform, but whatever. There was also the matter of informing Professor Ludo he wouldn’t be making it to his private practice session.
He sent off that email to be done with it as he entered the parking lot, but he didn’t lock the device.
…Should…he tell Void?
If Baikal were still interested and was just busy at the moment, he’d be furious if he discovered on his own Rabbit had met with Arlet again—and for a date no less. But if he wasn’t, and he was in the process of forgetting all about Rabbit…Did he want to draw the Brumal Prince’s attention back his way?
A sadistic inner voice within him laughed at that because truthfully, his hesitation had nothing to do with wanting to avoid Baikal and everything to do with not wanting confirmation that Baikal was the one avoiding him.
What if he really was bored with him after all of that?
What if he’d just tossed Rabbit aside like partially used goods?
What if—
The sound of footsteps at his back had him pausing, but just before Rabbit could turn to see who it was something jabbed into the right side of his neck. A sharp pain had him yelping and pulling away, stumbling to escape whoever had just attacked him.
Almost immediately, his vision became cloudy and his legs turned to jelly, making it hard for him to stay up on his feet. He turned, but the person in front of him was already too fuzzy to make out, especially since they had a dark hood drawn up to shield the upper half of their face.
That pounding between his eyes came again, harder this time, and he grimaced and held up a hand in a poor attempt to keep his attacker at bay. He heard someone screaming his name, the voice familiar, but realized it was taking place in his head.
Rabbit!
A memory of a dark night and a strike of lightning in the distance blindsided him and he finally dropped to his knees, landing with a painful smack against the concrete. In the memory, that voice kept calling out his name but he didn’t want to follow it, didn’t want to remember what happened next.
Someone grabbed onto his arm and yanked him up roughly and he let out another cry.
“Rabbit!” this time the voice wasn’t in his head, and both he and his attacker looked over to watch as Rin ran toward them.
He was larger than the attacker by at least a foot, plus he’d been training at the Academy for over a year now, so the high kick he delivered to the hooded guy wasn’t surprising. It did have the adverse effect of causing the attacker to drop Rabbit, who hit the ground again, this time with his skull rebounding off the hard surface.
“Shit, Rabbit!” Rin reached for him, momentarily distracted and the attacker took advantage, taking a swing at the back of Rin’s head.
Before he could make contact, however, another person was there, shoving him back with enough strength it sent him sprawling a good ten feet away. Kelevra Diar tugged at the hem of his navy blue and black corset and then sneered at the attacker warningly.
Rabbit only had enough time to process up to that point before his eyes slipped shut on their own.
“Damn it, Kel, I think he was drugged!” Rin yelled, sounding incredibly far away despite the fact Rabbit felt the solid weight of his arms lifting him. “What are you doing? Don’t just let—”
Rabbit didn’t hear the rest.
That darkness, the vile, horrible black that he was so afraid of, closed in around him, sealing him off from the world.
Chapter 18:
“Rabbit!”
He snuck out the back, glancing over his shoulder toward the door he’d painstakingly shut behind him. “What are you doing here?!” he whisper-yelled once he had the older man in sight, coming up short the second his gaze landed on his face.
His bruised and swollen face.
One of his eyes was entirely sealed shut and his lip was cracked in three places. His cheeks and his jawline were covered in a smattering of harsh, purple, and blue blotches that had Rabbit instantly feeling sick to his stomach, and that was before the man took a step toward him.
Limpedtoward him.
“She didn’t…” He didn’t want to believe this was something his mother was capable of and yet…He’d seen her pull Oli out of his seat in the back and force him out of the auditorium in the middle of Rabbit’s set. A part of him had known things wouldn’t have been pleasant between them, but this… “Light.”
